Arne Slot uses Man City as warning against complacency for Liverpool | OneFootball

Liverpool manager Arne Slot warned that his runaway league leaders cannot afford to rest on their laurels in a division as competitive as the Premier League, citing Manchester City as an example of the perils that await every team.

After an early scare, the Reds eased to a 3-1 victory over Leicester City at Anfield on Boxing Day. That victory - and more dropped points for Chelsea - helped Liverpool open up a seven-point lead at the Premier League summit.

Liverpool have lost just once throughout Slot's imperious start to life on Merseyside, but the experienced Dutchman was not planning any trophy parades just yet.

"If you are in this game for a long time, like these players are and I am, you know that you don't look at it 20 games before the end," Slot told reporters after Thursday's win. "There are so many challenges still ahead of you. A few months ago we were one point behind Manchester City and look at what has happened there. Injuries, suspensions, bad luck - it can happen to anybody."

Pep Guardiola (left) and Arne Slot have endured and enjoyed contrasting seasons thus far / Visionhaus/GettyImages

While Liverpool lead the division, City are back in the depths of seventh place. A bleak 1-1 draw with Everton on Boxing Day extended the defending champions' winless run and left Pep Guardiola calling for extensive and expensive reinforcements in January.

"It is far too early to be celebrating," Slot continued. "You have seen all these games and I don't think there was an easy win. That tells you how difficult it is to win if all of your players are available. We just have to take it one game at a time."

This was the 21st top-flight season Liverpool have spent Christmas Day top of the table. However, the Reds have only gone on to finish at the summit on 11 of those previous 20 occasions. Mohamed Salah knows the pain of a post-festive slump better than most after starring in two Liverpool teams which fell off the pace in 2018 and 2020.

After adding a third and final goal against Leicester, Salah claimed that this year "feels different". Whether or not that proves to be the case, Slot is not getting ahead of himself.